AUTOMATIC MONITORING AND REGULATING OF
SALINE FLOW RATE
PROJECT REFERENCE NO.: 38S0668
COLLEGE
: K.L.E INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, HUBLI
BRANCH
: ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION
GUIDE
: PROF. CHETAN.V. S.
STUDENTS : MS. SANMATHI.UNDODI
MS. SANJANA.P.SHETTY
MS. SPURTHI.PATIL
MS. POONAM.B.M
Introduction
Saline was believed to have originated during the Indian Blue Cholera pandemic that swept across
Europe in 1831. William Brooke O'Shaughnessy, proposed in an article to medical journal The Lancet to
inject cholera patients with highly oxygenated salts , and his proposal was soon adopted by the physician
Thomas Latta in treating cholera patients to beneficial effect. In the following decades, variations and
alternatives to Latta's solution were tested and used in treating cholera patients.
References:C.C Gavimath e.t al proposed the system for the development of an automatic saline
monitoring system using a low cost indigenously developed sensor and GSM (Global system for mobile
communication) modem. This enables the doctor or nurse on duty to monitor the saline flow rate from a
distance. The 8051 microcontroller is used for providing co-ordination action. An IR sensor is used at the
neck of the saline bottle to know the flow rate of the liquid. The output obtained from the sensor is
processed to check whether the flow rate is slow, medium or fast and the same is transmitted through
GSM technology to a distant mobile cell for future actions.
D.Janani e.t al proposed the system for the development of an automatic saline monitoring system using
a low cost indigenously developed sensor. This enables the doctor or nurse on duty to monitor the saline
flow rate from a distance. The PIC microcontroller is used for providing co-ordination action. An IR
sensor is used at the neck of the saline bottle to know the flow rate of the liquid. The detection of saline
drop rate is quite faithful. The output obtained from the sensor is processed to check whether the saline
bottle is empty and when it about to get over the alarm sound will be produced. As per the state of art, in
the above mentioned two works they have described the system for monitoring and controlling the saline
flow rate using IR sensors at the saline bottle neck. In our work instead of varying the saline flow rate
manually using screw clamp we are controlling the saline flow rate automatically using mechanical
device, push buttons and micro controller.
The lack of care persons with sufficient skill in hospitals and their heavy duty become a social problem in
the modern world. We should develop low cost health monitoring systems available to every hospital in
the days to come. In our work instead of varying the saline flow rate manually using screw clamp we are
controlling the saline flow rate automatically using mechanical device, push buttons and micro
controller.As per the doctor’s reviews of visited hospitals, they have expressed the need for such kind of
automatic monitoring saline system.
Objectives of the project
1. To overcome drawbacks in manually controlled saline system.
2. To provide greater accuracy than manual saline flow rate control system.
3. To send message to the doctor /nurses cell phone using GSM for continuous monitoring.
4. To make the system flexible so that in case of emergency the patient himself can alter the saline
flow rate.
5. To provide a digital system to indicate the number of drops flow in the catheter.
6. To inform and automatically stop the flow after emptying of saline bottle.
7. To make the saline monitoring automatic and inform the doctor/nurse spontaneously for patient
safety and easy access when required.
Methodology
The existing arrangement of saline flow system is not called to be efficient because there is manual
operation of the catheter. The following project is based on digitalizing the flow of saline. Here, based on
the number of drops that is required for the patient, the system is designed. There are 2 push buttons
which will rotate the stepper motor clockwise or anti-clockwise direction, one for increasing the number
of drops and the other push button for decreasing the number of drops. The arduino is uploaded with the
source code where, if once the push button is operated, 1 drop per sec saline flows. If twice the push
button is operated, 2 drops per second the saline flows. This continues upto 4 drops per second on
operating the push buttons. If there should be any decrease in the flow of the saline, then the second push
button is operated. It is similar to operation of the clock wise push button. On operating the push buttons,
the drops per second flow is displayed on the LCD.Once the push button is operated, the stepper motor
rotates with the mechanical device, and releases or compresses the catheter tube which is let down
between the two ends of the screw mechanical device. Once the saline bottle tends to become empty, the
user can operate the push buttons clockwise for 4 times and stop the saline flow which will also stop the
reverse flow of blood. And this process is recorded and sent to the doctor or the nurse through sms using a
GSM module.This every process of the system is handled by the arduino uno, where the entire source
code for interfacing all the necessary components is uploaded. In this way the saline flow is monitored
and controlled digitally.
Fig1:Block diagram
Fig2:Circuit Diagram
Test cases
1)Interfacing of arduino with servomotor:The servomotor was used in the beginning for the pressing
mechanism of the catheter tube. Servos enable you to accurately control physical movement because they
generally move to a position instead of continuously rotating. They are ideal for making something rotate
over a range of 0 to 180 degrees.But the drawback of servomotor is that, we cannot get the precise and
necessary amount of rotations as required. And the pressing mechanism of the catheter was not that
successful.
Fig3: Interfacing servo with arduino
2)Interfacing of arduino with DC motor:The dc motor was used to control the pressing mechanism, but
the problem with dc motor was the speed of dc motor could not be controlled easily and to rotate the dc
motor anticlockwise we have to reverse the polarity but this was not feasible for our project.
Fig4: Interfacing of DC motor with Arduino
Result:
The servo motor and Dc motor were not suitable for the proposed project therefore we used stepper motor
to control the saline mechanical device which converts the circular motion to linear motion thereby
releasing or compressing the catheter tube.
Fig5: Bread
B
boarrd implem
mentation of
o the prop
posed worrk
Sl.No Number of
o saline drops
Deg
gree of rotaation of steepper motor
1
60 drops per
p min/ 1 drop per sec
45o
2
120 drops per min/ 2ddrop per secc
90o
3
180 drops per min/ 3ddrop per secc
135
5o
Table: Tabu
ulation of num
mber of drop
ps of saline veerses rotation
n of stepper m
motor
The above taable gives us
T
u the tabulaation gives us
u the numb
ber of salinee drops versses rotation of
steepper motorr. When the push buttonn for increaasing the dro
ops is presseed ones the stepper mo
otor
o
rottates 45 antticlockwisee thereby relleasing the saline
s
tube and allowinng the flow rate to be 1 drop
per sec.
C
Conclusio
on
As discussedd above , thee monitorinng and contrrolling of saaline flow rate
r is essenntial. The fllow rate
vaaries from paatient to pattient dependding on the factors such as blood pressure
p
, ppulse rate etcc .In the
disscussion wee have menntioned thatt manual moonitoring of saline flow rate invoolves high risk.The
r
prooposed worrk describess the system
m for autom
matic monittoring and control
c
of ssaline flow rate. In
thiis work wee use a steppper motor and mechaanical devicce to controol the flow
w of saline ,this is
connected to a microconttroller (Ardduino/Raspbberry Pi) wh
hich is proggrammed to control thee stepper
mootor and meechanical device
d
to alllow the salline drop by drop as per
p patients requiremen
nt . The
salline flow is quantified by countinng the numbber of dropss in a fixed time intervval thus the number
off drops required to the patient
p
can be achievedd with the help
h of switch and steppper motor which
w
is
a
saaline monito
oring system
m provides more flexib
bility to
controlled by microcontrroller.The automatic
dooctors, thereeby the patieents caring is enhancedd. Hence it saves lot off time for ddoctor or nu
urse who
is on duty.
Scope for future work
In future we can implement all the below works using the proposed project:
• The blood pressure monitoring system can be integrated, to give average pulse rate and
blood pressure rate to the doctor with the proposed project.
• The flow control mechanism proposed can be modified and used in other fields such as
chemical mixing.
• The mechanical device used in our project can be replaced by any alternative or better
mechanism can be used for pressing and the proposed work can be interfaced with keypad
for better results.
Budget: